Final Fantasy VIII Shattered
by Blue Lionheart
Summary: Something's happened in Squall's life that has caused him to change everything he knows and everything he's believed in. Now he is faced with a choice that could alter his life forever.
1. Shattered Chapter 1

Shattered. Chapter 1.  
  
Music: Sarah McLaughlin - Angel  
  
Squall stood on the edge of the balcony looking out at the reflection of the moon rippling gently in the water and was holding back fifty emotions that could lead to fifty different outcomes if they would take control. His expression was the same. Emotionless, but with just a hint of pain on his brow. "What am I doing here?" he thought. His eyes felt deathly dry, but he didn't blink. His chest felt hollow but he showed nothing on the outside.  
It had been a month now since they had broken up. Squall and Rinoa...the dramatic relationship where the softspoken princess softened the heart of the quiet storm and opened his heart to love... It had reflected all around the Garden and was actually a popular fairy tale. A modern day fairy tale anyways...in fact, in a couple months it would probably be forgotten. It was insignificant, as was he. This is what he kept telling himself over and over. Maybe it was his way of keeping himself from being disappointed with life: Always expect the worst. In any case, he was alone now, and strangely enough, that wasn't what was bothering him. Was it? Why was he so hard to read?  
Quistis had once loved him...she still did, but she had changed the feeling. She forged it more into a feeling of brotherly love now than a feeling of passion. She knew in her heart that the passion could still be reignited one day if the right things happened. It had flared once. They had stood on that same balcony that she now looked down on from the office window she now watched him from. "I used to be able to read you like an open book, Squall. What happened to you? You were so predictable...'I'm more complex than you think', you once told me...I laughed and thought you were being dramatic...now I stand here watching you, and I don't know what you're thinking... I never know what you are going to say anymore...you never smile anymore...you barely speak, you always want solitude...What happened to you?" She said quietly to herself while continuing to watch him. She touched the curtain with her fingertips and absentmindedly tightened her fingers around the edge. She remembered him a month ago. He actually had become social. He smiled, he joked, and he laughed....that's what she remembered the most. It was the laughter. She thought back to the kiss the two of them had shared on the night he became a SeeD. He told her that if she needed someone to talk to so badly then he should go talk to a wall. She grabbed his arm, forced him to face her and then slapped him with all her strength. She had tears in her eyes and one fell down her cheek. He hand went to her face and she thought he was going to slap her back for a moment. He completely caught her off guard when he touched her cheek with his hand. He wiped the tear from her cheek and then kissed her lips. That was when she realized for the first time that she didn't have him as figured out as much as she thought she had.  
Her thoughts bounced all over the place and her vision was blurred from the salty water building in front of her vision. She snapped back to the present and blinked the tears away before they could fall. She turned her attention back down to Squall who hadn't moved. "Please tell me..." she whispered to no one in particular. She remembered back to some of the hurtful things he had said to her...there had been a lot of them. She had loved him, hated him, loved him again, despised him, put up with him, and loved him again... it was a cycle that had repeated itself so many times. She didn't know what it was that she saw in him, but there was something about him...he was so strong. He seemed to hold so much in and would put the weight of the world on himself if he thought he could handle it. He wasn't smiling anymore and that was wrong. She knew it and she knew that he knew it. He was old Squall again. He's the scared and angry young man he was before he had ever met Rinoa Heartily...but colder. More distant. At one point he had been an instructor. He had his own homeroom and was teaching a squad of students to handle a gunblade. He genuinely seemed happy back then. But then that Rinoa bitch... Quistis tried to stop herself from thinking such things because it wasn't proper and it wasn't....oh to hell with it. "That bitch." she said outloud. No one heard her speak in her small office except her own reflection in the window and she knew the reflection agreed with her.  
Rinoa had cheated on him. They all knew that Rinoa was a child and a spoiled brat on top of it, but she was so nice to everyone that no one would ever say anything to her about it. She chased Squall for a month during the whole fisco with the sorceress, and their whole relationship had seemed forced, but Squall had put his heart into it just because he felt like it was the right thing to do. She needed a hero, and she needed someone to take care of her. Why he chose her to open up to they never knew. Rinoa didn't seem as generous in her feelings as he did and without telling him she began to persue a relationship with a rebellious teen back home in Dollet. She didn't even seem to realize that her actions had hurt Squall and didn't seem to care much when Selphie had gotten in her face about it. Sweet little Selphie had cussed her out like you wouldn't imagine. He never said a word about it other than "Good riddance" when she walked out the door the last time. They all knew she was spoiled but they never expected this. Almost in an instant, his whole aura had become grey and he became the cold and cynical Squall he had been a year ago.  
  
"What am I doing here?" he asked himself. "I don't want to be anyone's problem and I don't want to deal with anyone else's problems either...so why am I here? I'm a SeeD. A professional problem solver. I've made it my life's work to help people...WHY?" Fifty different emotions flooded his mind, and the one emotion that no one expected would ever escape him finally erupted from him. His heart suddenly felt colder and more hollow than ever before. His eyes went wide with realization, his hands started to tremble, his legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground beneath him and began to cry. Not a single tear...not a slight loss of emotion, but he had lost all control and was crying his heart out. He didn't care who saw him, and he didn't care what the consequences were. "Oh God..." he cried into his hands. "Why am I here?!" he yelled out through his tears.  
"Squall?" Quistis whispered to him. She was on her knees next to him afraid to touch him. She knew he wouldn't tell her what was wrong, but he turned to her and wrapped his arms around her and held onto her tightly.  
"God, I'm so ALONE!" He cried into her shoulder. He wasn't about to let go of her. His jacket was flung lifelessly on the ground and she could feel the warmth of his body through the thin white long sleeved shirt he wore. "I'm so alone...."  
She was holding him like a child and running her fingers over his hair quietly whispering "Shh....it's ok...everything is going to be ok. Shhh..." She wasn't about to let go of him. This was more than she ever expected. This was more than the months of smiles, jokes and laughs. This was what he was hiding. This was Squall's secret. This was what he had been hiding his whole life. All the things he felt, all the things he feared and every single dream. It all had become so blindingly clear at that moment...  
He leaned back and through his reddened puffy tear drenched eyes he looked into her soft gentle blue eyes that were holding back tears of their own and told her with a tremble in his voice, "I'm here because of you."  
  
End Chapter 1 


	2. Shattered Chapter 2

Shattered. Chapter 2.  
  
Music: DJ Sammy - Heaven (Candlelight Mix)  
  
"How long has he been sitting there?" Zell asked after standing in silence for a good minute. Quistis looked over at him from the window where she looked into Squall's infirmary room. She looked back at Squall and didn't respond at first.  
"He hasn't moved for six hours."  
"Six hours? How do you know?  
"Because......I've been standing here watching him for 6 hours." she told him, and quickly glanced his way from the corner of her eye. She hoped she hadn't given anything away when she had said that...but she let the tension flow out of her shoulders and realized that if Squall could open up to her the way he had, she should stop trying to hide her feelings from her closest friends.  
Quistis and Zell had gotten to be rather close in the past year. He had started off as a bit of a party animal and an all around jerk on top of that. Not so much of an insulting person, but an irritating 'get-under-your- skin' type. When they had all been faced with the possible end of everything, Zell woke up and matured a lot. He was still a bit of a clown, but where his friends were concerned, he stopped acting so tough and let them into his life. Quistis has at one time hated to be in the same room together, and now they had lunch on a daily basis and had become best friends. They had dated briefly but both agreed that it felt strange and would much rather stay friends. It was rare that a relationship like their's could end in a mutual break up and still remain so close.  
"I'll be back to check on him in an hour. I have a class in a few minutes and we're starting to work with the bo-staff today. You take care, ok?" he said to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She barely nodded, but did so just enough to signal that she was listening. His bare hand slid off her Seed uniform and patted her on the back once before he headed out the door. He looked back into the room at her watching Squall. A gentle grin touched his lips before he put his hands behind his head in a stretching motion and continued out the door.  
Squall turned his head from the window that looked out over the Ocean and his eyes met with her's. He smiled ever so softly to her and she returned his smile with one of her own. She pushed the door of the room open and walked over to his side. Sitting next to him on the edge of the bed she asked him, "How are you feeling?"  
"A little better. I'm sorry for worrying you." He looked down suddenly, rather embarressed about what had happened, but the emotion of embarressment flooded his face, like a bright color, rather than the shades of grey he had shown before this all happened.  
"Sorry...for what? Opening up?"  
"For being a burden to you... I know the last thing that you-"  
"Squall...you're not a burden. You've never been one. You don't have to apologize. You have friends that love you very much and even though you may not believe it, you can come to any number of us and you don't have to worry about what you say or do. I hope you'll understand that one day.  
He made an expression that she wasn't sure was a smile or a smirk. Either way, she rested her head on his shoulder and told him that everything was ok now and that he didn't have to fear getting hurt again.  
"Quistis...How much do you remember of your childhood?" he asked her suddenly.  
"Just bits and pieces here and there... just as much as you I suppose."  
He was quiet for a moment, as if trying to form his next thought into a sentence. "I don't know...if...that's entirely true."  
She crinkled her brow as if confused and looked back at him without saying a word. On cue, he began again saying, "When we fought Ultimecia, she took something from me. It was like a presence...something very old, but very powerful. Something that I feel had been with me a long time. When we defeated her, whatever she had taken from me was shoved back into me, but this time, it brought back my childhood...my sister, you, Seifer, Zell...everyone. As clear as a bell. Not instantly, but it took a while before I started to get everything back. But I remember everything.  
"How is that possible? Our guardian forces cause memory loss...which is for the most part irreversible I thought..."  
He sounded confident when he answered her, "Yeah...but the memories go somewhere..." He subconsciously held onto the pendant that hung around his neck and continued, "And I think that whatever she stole from me had those memories in it and when we defeated it, I think it may have felt so bad for turning against me that all the emotions that it had used to gain strengh over the years suddenly rushed back into me almost like it was apologizing... And...now whatever it was she had taken from me is dormant now, but a lot has been revealed to me and I discovered something. I know what happened now.  
  
End Chapter 2. 


	3. Shattered Chapter 3

Shattered. Chapter 3  
  
Music: Tarek - Balamb Garden (Orchestrated)  
  
"Remember, those of you that are still commuting to school, you need to bring in your permission slips by tomorrow if you haven't done so already for the fieldtrip to the West continent. Remember to get all six slips signed or you won't be able to make the whole tour and if you can't make the WHOLE tour, then you aren't going to be able to go at all, so remember....TOMORROW!" Quistis told her students with a glare and a smile mixed into one. It was really for the benefit of two or three students in particular, but she didn't want to embarress anyone so she made it a public announcement. She was staying professional and as hard as it was for her to keep her mind off the last few days, she was managing to do so relatively well all things considerred.  
After packing her briefcase, she headed towards the door where Selphie Tilmitt was leaning. She stood up, grabbed Quistis' briefcase and walked with her down the hallway. "Sooooo? What's going on?"  
"Hey Seph, when did you get back into town?" Quistis asked as she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  
"Just about an hour ago just as you started your class. I got a bite to eat, unpacked and then headed here just in time to hear you unspecifically reminding Rondell to bring his permission slip. He's gonna flunk out of the academy before he reaches SeeD, you KNOW that right?"  
"Whoa...cynical much? He's a good student, a little aloof, but he's actually really booksmart. It's just common sense that he's lacking. Sound like some people we know?"  
"I can think of three off hand!" she said while spinning in the hallways looking towards the ceiling of the concourse. She ran over and pressed the button for the elevator and leaned against the wall. "So what's this I hear about our resident 'Whatever' losing it?"  
"You've been back an hour and you already heard about it? We were trying to keep it relatively quiet." Quistis shot back with a little fear in her voice.  
Selphie dropped the briefcase on the floor and held up both hands as a sign for her 'big sis' to relax. "Oh no! I had lunch with Zell before I saw you and he told me what happened to Squally and I was just really worried...he's like my big brother and I don't want anything to happen to him. I won't tell anyone or anything..."  
"He's your big brother but you're older than him!" She said holding her hand over her mouth to hide her smile. She did that subconsciously a lot and Selphie racked it up to Quistis either being embarressed of her smile, or uncomfortable about showing too much emotion in front of people unless it was faked. One of the little nuances of Quisty that made her "so special" as Selphie always put it.  
"I'm only older than him by like a month or two, but he acts older than all of us, except maybe you."  
"Gee thanks..................What's taking this elevator so long?" Selphie ran over to the edge of the railing and hung way over the side. She started to slip but Quistis grabbed her around the waist before she tipped over the side.  
"Hey Mr. Technician person!!! How long is the elevator gonna be busted?"  
Quistis tried to listen to the guy but his soft voice was being cancelled out by his own echo in the lobby and she couldn't make out anything he was saying. She lowered Selphie back to the ground to hear her say that he told her another thirty minutes at the least.  
"Well, let's take the stairs then!" She picked up her briefcase just before Selphie snatched it away from her again, insisting to carry it, and they both headed for the stairwell.  
"You still didn't tell me...what's going on with 'Leon'?"  
"You know he hates it when you call him that."  
She giggled out loud and bounced in her step, "Since when have I actually STOPPED something because 'LEON' asked me to? And stop changing the subject!"  
"He's doing better. I am not sure yet what happened because he hasn't quite opened up about it, but he's at least looking me in the eye again, and he's stopped crying."  
Selphie's eyes became huge"You...saw him cry?"  
"Yeah...please don't mention it to anyone. Squall's the strongest person I've ever met, and while he doesn't have much of an ego, I don't want things to be any more difficult on him than they already are now." She said while giving Selphie a sideways glance.  
Selphie held her head down and held onto the briefcase with both hands as they walked. "I won't say anything. Is there anything I can do?"  
"He'll open up when he's ready, but I am not going to force him. I'm giving him some space at the moment. For the past couple of days I have been by his side almost every waking moment, but I knew that Monday morning I was going to have to go to classes and it will give him a chance to collect his thoughts in private. I'm going to see him tonight when I am finished with my last class. Do you want to go with me?"  
"Hmm...that's ok. I love him to death, but if he's going through a rough period right now I think the last thing he needs is 'annoying Selphie' on his case." She said while rolling her eyes back and looking at the ceiling.  
"I don't think he thinks you--"  
"He told me I was, ok? He told me before I left for Trabia. I know I'm the cutesy, happy-go-lucky, annoying bitch in the group, but..."  
Quistis' eyes went large this time and she looked shockingly at Selphie, "Selphie should never say bad words...it just really doesn't sound right, and that's not who you are. If you're picking up bad habits from someone, let me know who so I can kick their ass.......butt. Oh. It's me...Seph, you can't take anything that he says to heart, especially if he's in tough defensive mode. He loves you the same way you love him. We're family, ya know? Remember that line 'We always hurt the ones we love the most.'"  
"You're right, I know you're right, but everything always seems to mean so much more coming from his mouth, probably because he doesn't say too much."  
"I know. Hey, I'm going to get a bite before my next class. Let's meet up later this evening, ok? You can tell me how the Trabia project is going!"  
"Okie dokie!" She said handing Quistis her briefcase back. She gave Quistis a big hug and headed towards the Theater wing. "Bye Quisty!!"  
  
Music: Michelle Branch - Goodbye To You (Radio Mix)  
  
She stood there waving goodbye to Selphie and despite her better judgement, she headed towards the dormitory wing instead of getting something to eat. She was repeating in her head what she would say to everything that he would throw at her, thinking of all the support she could give him, and preparing herself for whatever situation would present itself when he opened the door. The big question on her mind was 'Why am I so nervous?' She dismissed the thought, and pressed the doorchime next to the hatchway into his room and waited. No answer. She then just knocked on the door rather loudly and still no one answered.  
Being nervous as she was already, this made her a little paranoid so she pulled out her cardkey and swiped it in the panel and typed in her code that gave her access to any doorway in the Garden. The door opened and she stepped back when she saw what was set out before her. Squall's normally immaculate room was in shambles. Books were on the floor, trash was strewn over counters, the carpet, overflowing from his trashcan, and all over his bed. His SeeD uniform was ripped apart, his leather jacket had half a sleeve torn off and the fur lining was on the floor across the room. Quistis began to get really nervous as she stepped into the room. The word "LIAR!" was burned into one wall , and smoke was still coming from the burn marks leading her to believe that this was very recent. His gunblade was broken in the middle of the blade and the two parts were set an inch apart from each other but the chamber was nowhere to be found. He was nowhere in the room either and the window was wide open with the curtains blowing gently back into the room. She walked over to his bed and sat down with her mouth slightly open in shock at what was happening. She picked up his jacket and held it in her arms solemnly wishing that it were him instead. Then she found a letter that had been under the jacket:  
  
Dear Quistis,  
I know with all of my heart that you will be the one  
to find this letter. Please don't worry about me. I know that  
you will, but I beg you, please don't. The events of the past  
few days have me really confused and I just need some time  
alone.  
I don't know who I am anymore but all I know is  
that something is wrong inside me. I feel like I am fighting  
someone or something in my spirit, and it's fighting to take  
control of my life. I am going to the only person I know that  
could help me and I don't know when I will be back.  
What I do know is that whatever is wrong, I have  
to discover what it is and fix it on my own. Please tell Selphie  
that I am sorry for what I told her, and please let Zell know  
that he's my best friend. And Quistis, please forgive me for  
being such a burden to you. I never wanted it to come to  
this, but I am a danger to everyone right now and I don't  
want this to be your responsibility any longer.  
I love you, Quistis Trepe.  
Goodbye,  
Squall  
  
She was in tears when she got to the end, but when she read those three words, she inadvertantly looked on the bed where the letter had been laying and found Squall's necklace, battered and bruised, laying in it's place with the chain jumbled up and the pendant on top. She slowly took it in her hands and collapsed off the side of the bed crying on his floor in a little ball. Several emotions went through her mind. Everything from 'I wasn't there for him', to 'I hate him for this', to 'He...loves me.' After several minutes, she put the necklace on, climbed through the debris on his bed and fell asleep on his pillow. Quistis missed her last class that evening.  
  
There was a knock at the door in the pouring rain during the middle of the night. Much too late for visitors. Whoever it was that was knocking was going to get a piece of her mind. She opened the door to find Squall standing there shaking in front of her. He was drenched from head to toe and was wearing a black trench coat over a black t-shirt and jeans. He looked like he had been through hell and through it all, this was where he came.  
"...Hello, Rinoa."  
  
End Chapter 3. 


	4. Shattered Chapter 4

Shattered. Chapter 4.  
  
Music: Frou Frou - Must Be Dreaming.  
  
The sky swirled with the whitest kinds of clouds on the bluest kind of sky. Everything was so vivid, so lifelike. She was looking into the sky watching as he flew away from her on a pair of magnificent white wings that blended into the clouds around him. His soft brown hair was floating gently in the wind as if caught by an updraft. He wore a long sleeved white shirt, white pants and white boots, all the same blinding shade as the wings that adorned his back. He was smiling at her with so much love in his heart as if he had found his place and was here only long enough to say goodbye. She reached out to him and his fingertips brushed her's for only an instant as he flew away into the blinding light at the center of the funnel of clouds swirling around them. Her heart was beating harder than she could ever remember and she knew with all her soul that this was goodbye. He blended into the sunlight and vanished from her sight leaving her with only the words, "I promise."  
  
Music: Silence.  
  
Quistis woke up in a cold sweat to the image of a skull floating in front of her face for a split second that caused her to yell out before she realized it was in her mind. She backed up to the headboard and panted heavily. She was still in his room and it was still daylight. She looked down to see that his necklace pendant was still in her hand and that she had been bleeding from holding onto it so tightly. She started to pry it from her fingers to find that her hand and the pendant were both caked in dried blood and that her hand was cramped tightly around it. Using her other hand she was able to break the seal and stretch her hand freely again. She walked over to his kitchenette sink and washed the blood off and glanced over at the broken gunblade that was still unmoved on the floor. "Where are you, Squall?"  
  
Just then someone was slamming their fists against the door and her heart began to race again. Who could be at that door and what would they say when they saw the room destroyed like this, her wearing his blood stained pendant around her neck, and no Squall? "Screw it," she said to herself. She put the pendant down the front of her shirt and opened the door to let in both Selphie and Zell who were both in awe of everything before them.  
"Quisty!!" Selphie ran over and grabbed Quistis' wet hands and held onto them with fear in her eyes. "We didn't know what happened to you!"  
"What? What do you mean? I've only been gone for about an hour maybe?" She said while glancing over to the clock on Squall's nightstand.  
"An hour?" Zell chimed in, "You've been missing for a whole day. The last person to see you was Selphie. She said you were going to get a bite to eat and you never showed up in the lunchroom. We thought you might have come here but we've been banging on the door for hours and..." His attention turned to the gunblade on the ground. "...What happened in here?"  
"I...I don't know..." Quistis tried to compose herself but she really didn't know what had gone on here. "I came here to check on him instead of getting something to eat, he wasn't here, the room was destroyed, I ended up...falling asleep hoping he would return, but he never did." She had hoped the last part of that sounded convincing enough to throw off Selphie's lie-dar.  
Zell spoke up with a wrinkle in his brow, "What do you think we should do, Quistis?"  
Quistis, "We go find him."  
  
Music: Tori Amos - Sorta Fairytale  
  
Rinoa sat on the edge of her chair watching Squall sleeping in her bed. He had a pained look on his face and she knew that he was having disturbing dreams, but she'd woken him twice already and repeatedly disorienting him with her face every time he woke up from a nightmare was just going to make things worse so she let him sleep and hoped he could beat whatever it was he was fighting in his dreams.  
She watched him with loving eyes and missed holding him and feeling him hold her, but knew that things could never be the way they had been. The whole thing had been a severe misunderstanding...a partial misunderstanding. She had made a big mistake but she hadn't meant anything by it, but her mistake had caused their breakup and she'd never get him back now.  
He started to stir from his sleep and looked at the ceiling when he woke up. It was still raining outside and he blamed himself for it. He brought all this negative emotion with him and had caused the '...oh stop it. You aren't to blame for the rain' he said silently to himself.  
"Why would you think you were?" She asked him with her soft pitched voice that made his skin crawl at first. He was scared of her because she had managed to hurt him on an emotional level. Something that he would never have allowed anyone else to do and he didn't know how to counter it. It's understandable that at this point being in the same room with her would arouse so much tension that he wouldn't be able to get much accomplished.  
"I need you to do something for me if you are up to it." He said, changing the subject suddenly. He was going straight to the point and didn't want to mince words with her at this point. He was uncomfortable here and the fact that he fell asleep so easily in her bed scared him a little more than he liked.  
"Ok." She said quietly, keeping her head down in a sign of humility.  
"I think I have something inside of me. Like some kind of demon, or spirit or something, and it's trying to take control. I've been holding it back for a couple months now, but I just realized it was there in the past week. I've been holding it back subconsciously but it's fighting me violently now and I don't know how much longer I will be able to keep it at bay. If you still have any of your sorceress powers available to you at this point, I need you to take this thing out of me and give me my life back." He had said that last line and intended for it to have a double meaning, which it obviously did because she had a sick expression creep across her face as he said it."  
"Squall, I want you to know how sorry I am for what happened between us." She blurted out with a tremble in her voice.  
"Whatever. Look, can you help me or not? I didn't particularly want to come here. Not after I saw you kissing him."  
"But...Seifer kissed me." She said with not a little bit of fear in her voice.  
"You didn't look like you were fighting it too hard."  
"He caught me off guard, and he reminded me so much of you that I got lost in the moment...Squall...I still love you. More than anything in the world...I wish you could see that. I don't love Seifer. I never have... Even when he and I dated years ago, I never loved him. It was always you that I loved. You that I dreamed of before we met. You that I still dream about every night and regret the mistakes that I made...please forgive me Squall, PLEASE!" She said as tears were now freely streaming down her face.  
"I just want you to remove this cancer inside of me and let me move on with my life." he said calmly without making eye contact with her.  
"I'll do this for you not because you asked me to, but because I love you too much to see you hurting from this."  
He bit his tongue, but he wanted to say something mean and nasty to her, much like he used to do to Quistis, but whatever her feelings were, she was going to help and keeping his mouth shut was at least enough to repay her for that.  
She stood next to the bed and began to perform her Draw from him. She touched the center of her forehead and felt the presence being lifted out of him. Before it entered her, she held up her other hand causing the presence to float in the air in the form of a pulsing, roaring ball of energy. Squall was knocked unconscious when the being was ripped out of him. It had a slight face and gave her an evil look as if it wanted to grab her with all it's might. "I know who you are." She said with a voice of authority. "And now I will send you back to your prison where you will stay for the end of time.  
Raising her hands to the sky, she forced the presence out of the house and to it's resting place across the ocean, over land, through walls, and into a small bloodencrusted amulet that hung around Quistis' neck. She gasped suddenly as she felt the presence partially pass through her and into the necklace. She suddenly felt very sick and excused herself from Selphie and Zell and ran into the bathroom, closed the door, and threw up into the toilet.  
"What was that?" she said looking up through her tear clouded vision.  
  
End Chapter 4. 


	5. Shattered Chapter 5

Final Fantasy 8: Shattered - Part 5  
  
Music: Frou Frou - Shh  
  
The Ragnarok was docked at the newly constructed docking port build above the training facility on the port side of the Garden. Several vents were blowing out exhaust as the radar sensors built in the eyes of the Dragon-head construction were glittering as if they had just been put online. Selphie had already overseen the loading of a week's worth of supplies and was talking to Headmaster Cid about any possible places that Squall might be hiding out. He gave her the usual suggestions. The old orphanage, Galbadia Garden, possibly Esther...each place would take them at least a couple hours just to reach. By the time they got there, he could have already left and they'd be playing catch-up the whole time. Add to that the fact that Squall didn't want to be found and wasn't dressed in the attire that had made him popular. He could blend into a crowd if he wanted to with the only thing giving him away the light scar that floated between his eyes on the bridge of his nose. Even that had healed so well that it was barely visible unless you were right in front of him. Selphie caught Zell out of the corner of her eye down on the pad of the launch bay practicing some martial arts moves. He wasn't as stiff in his movements as he used to be and he seemed so much more focused than he had been a year earlier. He had added a couple more branches to his facial tattoo to showcase the new fighting styles that he had learned. He was very committed to his job now and was one of the most trusted instructors in the whole Garden now. She turned her attention back to Cid who was running through the checklist of supplies and procedures for the trip.  
  
Quistis walked into the Infirmiry with sunglasses on a slight green tint to her skin. She was wearing her full SeeD uniform again with her high boots and opaque stockings to hide as much skin as she could. She had even "borrowed" Squall's black gloves so her hands didn't give her away. The thing that scared her the most were her eyes. Since she had become violently ill the evening before, her eyes had shifted colors from their normal baby blue to a blood red. It wasn't immediate, but when she had woken up this morning, it was obvious. She looked for Dr. Kadowaki and couldn't find her anywhere in the rooms so she took that as her cue to head for the stash of eyewear supplies. She had checked her prescription before she made her way here and knew exactly what she was looking for but lucked out when the first small box she found were a pair of baby blue tinted contacts without a prescription. She pocketed them and headed out of the infirmary and back to her office around the corner.  
She hated wearing glasses, and hated contacts even more and now she had to wear both just to hide the fact that anything was wrong. After a few minutes of flinching from the gross things touching her eyes, she got them in and smiled sheepishly as her eyes looked normal again. Her face still looked deathly pale which she touched up with a little makeup. Her eyes itched like crazy and she kept rubbing her eyes through her eyelids until she realized that it wasn't going to stop and she just had to endure it. She put her glasses on and headed for the launch bay.  
  
Music: Nobuo Uematsu - Eyes on Me (Acoustic Guitar Version)  
  
Rinoa looked on as Squall slept once again. She was achingly tired and wanted to just curl up next to him and fall asleep in his arms, but she wouldn't do it. She wasn't going to do that to him. She didn't know how he really felt about her anymore. He put up this defence of being so strong and would hide his true feelings...'or what if this really was his true feelings?' she thought to herself. Her eyes welled up but she blinked the tears away before they fell. He rustled slightly in her sleep and she perked up to see if he was waking up, but he didn't. Whatever he had been through, he was severely tired from it. She knew when she saw him that he looked as if he hasn't slept recently. His skin was pale, and he had dark rings under his eyes.  
But, oh, how she had just missed being in the same room with him. It had been nearly a month...or just over a month... she hadn't really kept much track of the days, but it had been long enough. She didn't know if she'd see him again after she left Balamb that last time. They had just told the other their last goodbyes, and she had taken her things from the quarters they had set up for her. She never knew that Squall didn't tell who it was she kissed. Even then it was like he was protecting her. He was averting the outcome she had created for a less hostile one. She knew that she had wronged him even though she didn't mean to by any means. He had walked out of her life, supposedly for good. On some days she would be glad he was gone. She'd try to come up with reasons that it's good that things were over, but other days she would sit alone in her room and cry for hours on end because she hated herself so much. She had been a little spoiled, but she learned the meaning of love the hard way.  
He turned over again and laid there for a moment on his left side looking off the edge of the bed. He looked a little more rested now. He didn't seem to have that pain on his brow at the moment and got up to leave when she saw him open his eyes. "Um..." he said, which caused her to instantly stop and turn around towards him. "Thank you."  
She smiled at him even though he wasn't making eye contact with her and continued to the door. Now that he was awake, she was sure that he would want some privacy. Her heart dragged at the thought that it had come to this.  
"You don't have to leave," he told her. There was a softness in his voice now that caused her knees to buckle slightly. She caught herself before she fell and looked at him in awe. "Unless you want to, I mean." She walked over slowly to the side of the bed and sat on the edge. He touched her arm gently and she slowly laid down next to him with her back against his chest. After pulling herself up close to him, he placed his right arm over her side and held her tight. Her heart was beating so hard and she didn't want him to know, but she didn't know how he wouldn't. His heart was still enough that she couldn't feel it and realized that he was asleep again. She laid there, awake, watching the wall, trying to smile, but crying gently to herself.  
  
End Chapter 5. 


	6. Shattered Chapter 6

Final Fantasy 8: Shattered - Chapter 6  
  
Music: Jonatha Brooks - I Try  
  
The hum of the engines was deafening in her ears. She pressed her hands flat against them to block out the sound in her head but couldn't get the sound to shut up. She was clenching her eyes tightly shut and was crying out loud as the roar got louder. Hollaring in the confines of her small quarters on the Ragnarok, she managed to squeek out in between her tears "Stop! Please stop!!" Tears were streaming freely from her eyes on the pillow and she felt as if she were going insane.  
Banging on the door followed by her name being yelled through the bulkhead caused her to snap out of whatever it was that was invading her mind. The room was deathly silent save for the barely audible rumbling of the engines far below this deck. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming? Her head felt fuzzy like she had just woken up from a dream but...she was awake, wasn't she?  
There was the knock again at the door. Startled, she got up and opened the door. Selphie walked in with a cautious expression. She still looked so much like a child. You could easily mistake her for twelve or thirteen years old if you didn't know her personally. "Quisty...your eyes..." she said with genuine fear in her voice.  
'Oh No...!' Quistis thought to herself... she had taken out the contacts and forgotten to put them back in when she had laid down. She turned around really quickly and went over to her contacts. The case was left open with the contacts floating in the solution. As much as she hated it she tried to put them in really quickly, but Selphie gently put her hand on Quistis' arm and stopped her. "...What happened?"  
Quistis slumped on the bed trying to make sense of what was going on. "I don't know...I feel like I am fighting something...something's trying to take over my mind, my head just hurts so MUCH! I CAN'T...!" The rumbling was back in her head again and she couldn't fight it. it was so loud that she couldn't think anymore.  
Almost like clockwork, Zell was in the room with a needle putting it in her arm. She calmed down over the next few seconds as the liquid got into her bloodstream and she became quite dizzy and fell over sideways towards the bed. Selphie caught her and helped her up on the bed into a comfortable position. Zell took off her boots and gloves, and nodded to Selphie to do the rest. Even though he had dated Quistis, he was quite the gentleman now and didn't want to disrespect a woman's right to privacy. Heading back to the bridge of the ship, he sat in the helm seat, propped his right foot on the edge of the reinforced plexiglass dome and checked the readout to see how far they were from the orphanage. He crinkled his brow and his mood became very serious. His fingers danced over the controls for a few seconds and the ship made a slight course correction. He smiled evily to himself as his eyes swirled blood red.  
  
Squall stood in the doorway watching her sleeping. He had pretended to sleep for three hours before she finally fell asleep herself. He waited another hour to make sure she was dreaming before he gently took his leave from her. He didn't like leaving like this, but it would be much harder leaving in the morning and having to say goodbye. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't still have some feelings for her, but he didn't want the drama that came with Rinoa Heartily. She was a General's daughter, a little older but still spoiled, and although he didn't know what she had been up to since they broke up, she suspected that when they broke up, she persued the relationship with Seifer. She said herself that she saw traits in Seifer that reminded her of him, which in turn made him sick to his stomach. Seifer had left the Garden shortly after he was readmitted as a student. It was his last year to become a Seed and he doubled up on his work to take the test which he passed this time. When he had graduated, he transferred to Galbadia Garden, which was now situated off the coast of Dollet making it much more convenient to follow a relationshup with Rinoa. The long distance was making it hard on her and Squall and they both knew it, but they still were quite close until the kiss.  
He gave her a final glance before he picked up his coat that had been neatly folded on a chair by the door. It was still raining and probably would be for the rest of the night so he figured now would be the best time to leave.  
  
Music: SR-71 - Tomorrow  
  
"Get a good lay and then run, eh?" He heard coming from a shadowed figure standing outside in the side of the darkened porch. Squall closed the door behind him after pausing for a moment. "After all...that's all she was to you, right?" Squall ignored the comment and started to walk out into the rain. "Don't you walk away from me, bitch!" the voice yelled as Squall stopped dead in his tracks. Rain was drenching him already as he tucked his hair behind his ear.  
"What do you want, Almasy?" Squall said icily as he heard a cigarette lighter flick out a flame.  
Seifer took his time to light a cigarette before continuing, "Rumor has it you went AWOL from Balamb. Little SeeDs are running to all points of the world to find you, and somehow none of them expected you to come here, but I did." Squall stood in silence waiting for Seifer to explain. "Ok, fine, I'll tell you if you won't ask me! I knew you'd come here because it's what I'd do if I were that weak."  
Squall's brow stiffened but he held his tongue. Seifer went on, "You're like a shadow of me, ya know. You've always been following in my footsteps, always trying to live up to what I am, and trying to best me. You've beaten me with sheer luck, and in three on one fights, but you could never beat me for real. You're just a shadow and I will always be better than you."  
"I've never looked up to you." Squall responded dryly.  
"Oh, is that so? I've always been that year older than you, it only makes sense that you would look up to me." Seifer responded with a smile as he tried to provoke his shadow.  
"A year older and a year closer to dying." Squall retorted with no emotion.  
"A threat?" Seifer was itching to get into it now, and Squall knew it. He always had trouble backing down to Seifer in the past, but he didn't want this right now. He had too much on his mind and just wanted to leave. He started to walk away and Seifer yelled again, "I said not to walk away from me!"  
Before Squall could respond, he heard the hum of Seifer's Hyperion grade gunblade swinging through the air. He ducked forward and rolled out of the way to avoid getting his back slit open from the blade that even sounded sharp. Squall had a run in with the blade once and it left a mark on not only his face but his soul and every time he looked in the mirror he saw that scar. That reflection of Seifer staring back at him... To everyone else it looked different, but he saw a reflection. A reversed image. He saw Seifer watching him, laughing.  
"Quick, but not quick enough!" Seifer yelled out. His blade had circled around and was coming back for another pass. Squall rolled again and sprung himself to his feet. No emotion on his face, but definate determination. Seifer's blade whirled inches from Squall's face, but he reared back to dodge another scar and pushed the blade up with his left arm. The gunblade went high and gave him a second to breathe. The second was cut short when Seifer swung it around a third time; this time aiming for his legs. Everything went in slow motion as the black figure of Squall flipped backwards, landing on his hands and pushing himself back again with all his strength to land on his feet again. "Nice." Seifer smirked.  
The smirk made Squall react as he knew Seifer was about to pull something. Every time he smirked, he pulled a dirty move. Sure enough, he attacked at Squall with a forward thrust that was apparently filled with all the rage Seifer could muster. With the easiest motion, Squall pushed the blade to the right with his right arm and slammed his left arm on the top of the blade. He felt the pain of the hard edge bruise his forearm but the plan had the right reaction. The blade went down hard and buried the tip in the concrete walkway in Rinoa's yard. With hardly any thought, Squall's foot kicked the side of the blade hard enough to shatter the thick metal and send an emotional shock through Seifer that gave him just enough time to react. He kicked Seifer hard in the breadbox knocking him back and winding him at the same time. Squall had enough at this point. He worked the blade out with his right boot and forced it to roll back on the top of his steel-toe. He kicked the tip of the blade in the air, swung around at breakneck speed and roundhoused the blade in Seifer's direction.  
Seifer saw the blade coming at him and tried to duck it by turning his head back and to the right causing it to slice neatly across the bridge of his nose in the opposite direction of his other scar. The blade angrily dinked off his skull and embedded itself in the wall of Rinoa's house just above the doorway. He was seeing red at this point and didn't know what just happened but couldn't think straight.  
"I'm not your reflection any longer." Seifer heard Squall calmly tell him as he looked up and saw Squall's boot coming around for another roundhouse that cracked loud against Seifer's head. Then all he saw was black. He fell backwards into the grass on the sides of the concrete path and splashed as his back hit the waterlogged lawn. Blood was freely flowing from the new gash in his face that perfectly reflected his old one.  
"And that's for messing up my life." Squall said with a hint of spite in his voice as thunder gently rumbled overhead. He turned his stare from Seifer's unconscious body and continued on his way out into the street.  
  
End Chapter 6. 


	7. Shattered Chapter 7

Final Fantasy 8: Shattered - Chapter 7  
  
Music: Dance of the Lux Veritatis  
  
The air around the Ragnarok had grown cold as the ship moved higher into the atmosphere. It was just on the edge of breathable air and since the ship has just passed the divider into night, it was impossible for anyone to know how high they were unless they read a panel on the bridge that showed their elevation.  
Suddenly Quistis' eyes went wide and she gasped like she had never taken a breath of air before. She tried to sit up suddenly, but Selphie held her down out of surprise. Quistis grabbed the young girl's arms and looked into her eyes. Selphie noticed that Quistis' eyes were back to the soft baby blue they had been before.  
"Quisty?" Selphie squeaked out.  
"Where's Zell?" Quistis looked horrified as she asked the question.  
Selphie looked scared as she answered, "He's on the bridge...why?"  
Quistis was on her feet and out of the room before Selphie had finished answering, "We're in danger!"  
The door to the bridge slid up and Zell jumped out of his seat and snarled at Quistis. His skin was a green tint and his eyes were black with red in the middle. "You're too late human! I'm already more powerful than you could ever imagine. I don't need this pitiful body any longer. The sheer limits of it are insulting to me." His voice sounded evil... deep...almost like a recording played back too slowly. Selphie ran in behind Quistis and gasped as she saw Zell. Both of the girls could feel the evil presence in the room. It felt like too much humidity...the temperature 10 degrees too high... electricity in the air...sheer evil.  
Quistis asked the demon, "Who are you?"  
It laughed a deep chuckle, pressed a key combination on the console, and within a split second, the presence melted out of Zell, went through the bulkhead below him, and out the ship, back towards the Earth. Zell hit the floor hard, and started to slide along towards then as the nose of the ship pitched forward and began accelerating. He moaned softly to himself as he was trying desperately to regain control of his body.  
Selphie and Quistis held onto the railing near the back of the cockpit as the speed began to increase.  
"Uuuuhhh....what.....happened..?" Zell groggily asked as Quistis reached down with one arm to help him up. He seemed too disoriented to even know where he was, much less what was going on.  
"Later. Right now we've got a bigger problem." The earth clearly came into view through all the forward windows of the bridge and the orange glow of re-entry began to flicker around them. Whatever the demon had done, it's intent was clear...murder...to anyone who stood in it's way.  
Quistis ripped her whip from her belt and with all her strength attempted to snag the pilot seat and pull herself to it, but the inertia in the cabin was pushing against them so strong that her whip couldn't reach.  
Zell regained his composure enough to realize the situation and began pulling himself along the railing, as though he were climbing a rope. Gravity was clearly against him and his arms were straining against the G- forces. He had wedged himself between the glass and the railing and slowly inched his way up. Sliding into the pilot seat he attempted to regain control of the systems, but was locked out of every operation. "We're bordering on Mach 15, and I can't override...If anyone has a suggestion, now's the time!" No one answered. "That's about what I thought..."  
Quistis and Selphie were laying flat against the back bulkhead of the cabin at this point barely able to move. Zell, on the otherhand, hung onto the display in front of him for dear life and frantically pressed any combination of commands he could think of to give them some kind of control, but nothing seemed to give.  
"Zell! I've got an idea!! Get back down here! QUICKLY!!" Selphie yelled out as an idea flashed across her face. Zell pushed himself out of his chair and fell backwards almost too fast to grab one of the seats behind him. He dropped himself back one row at a time until he was back with the two girls.  
Through the flames in front of the ship, a mountain range came into view. Selphie's eyes went wide with horror as she realized what little time they had. Everyone clenched their eyes tightly shut as the Ragnarok ignited into a brilliant ball of plasma a split second before slamming into the mountainside. The resulting explosion sent millions of pounds of snow tumbling down all sides of the mountain in a tremendous avalanche, covering the crashsite almost instantly and extinguishing a huge portion of the flames left remaining.  
  
Music: Stereo Fuse - Everything  
  
Squall stepped out of the small shuttle after a long flight. He didn't care to come to Esther that often. He always felt out of place and inadequate when he went anywhere. He didn't care for the looks that he would get from the people that lived there. They all seemed to regard him as a relic, with little importance...like they were all better than he was. He didn't have time for this, though. He was here for a reason.  
After nearly twenty minutes of taking lifts to get from the airport to the Presidential building, Squall was making his way into the front lobby. He had forgotten how big this place was. He went to the receptionist and asked to speak to "President Loire". The young girl looked at him incredulously and following protocol, she asked if he had an appointment.  
"Tell him that his son is here to see him."  
Her eyes went wide and instantly saw the resemblance. She even felt a little embarressed for not seeing it sooner. He looked almost exactly like him, but his features were a little softer and his hair was shorter.  
Ten minutes later, he was standing in his father's office, looking at the books neatly arranged on shelves. Nearly all of them had been written by Laguna Loire.  
"Squall? What are you doing here?" Laguna walked in, wearing a suit. Squall wasn't used to seeing him in such a get-up, and a very slight smile touched his lips.  
"I've come to ask you a favor." Squall went straight to business.  
"Before you ask...how...when did you find out?"  
"That's part of why I'm here...something has happened to me recently. I'm finding out a lot about myself that I never knew before now."  
"You're not mad with me for never telling you?" Laguna asked, almost a little hurt that his son seemed so cold to their relationship.  
"You must have had your reasons...and we can discuss it later...right now, I need to ask you for a favor. What information do you have about the Guardian Forces? Where did they come from, and when were they first used?"  
Laguna was caught off guard slightly by the random question. He looked down for a minute, then looked around his office like he were trying to come up with somewhere to begin. "...Why did you come to me for that answer?" He almost sounded a little frustrated with the question.  
"Because you travelled the world when you were working for Timber Maniacs. Not to mention you were in the Galbadian Army special forces unit, then you went on to become President of Esther? It's natural to assume that you would know where this kind of technology, magic, or whatever you want to call it, came from. I'm sure you've used Guardian Forces in the past....can you help me?"  
Laguna breathed in deeply and then exhaled just as deeply. "You don't ask the easy questions...do you? Not to mention I had been rehearsing about a dozen different answers for completely different questions on the way up here to meet you." He paused as if waiting for Squall to ask a less complicated question.  
"So...can you help me or not?"  
Nope...not any easier "I can't answer all of your questions...but I can get you started in the right direction. The 'Guardians' were created by a race of people that are extinct now. They were called 'The Ancients'."  
"Where were they? Is there any records of them that I could study?" Squall asked instantly.  
"Squall..."  
"Why are you being so secretive about it?" Squall crinkled his brow as he asked.  
"...The Temple of the Ancients..." Laguna reluctantly answered.  
"Where? Where is it?" Squall asked almost frantically.  
"It's at the South Pole." He finally answered.  
"...But the..." Squall started to question Laguna's answer.  
"And Esther was just a desert before it was revealed as being hidden. The temple is under the surface of the water." Laguna answered, almost proudly, waiting for his son to ask how he knew all of this.  
Squall put his hands on the table in front of him, leaned in and asked his father, "Can you help me get there?"  
Laguna sighed again, and looked off to the side. His eyes then met with Squall's again. "Seeing as how you saved the world, and as how you are my son, I suppose so. When would you like to leave?"  
Squall responded without pausing, "Immediately, and I need to go alone."  
Laguna smiled as he finally got a prediction about his son correct. "Of course."  
  
End Chapter 7 


	8. Shattered Chapter 8

Final Fantasy 8: Shattered

Chapter 8

"I guess this is it..." Squall said to himself. He turned the crank on the hatch of the small sub and broke the suction that had kept the water out. He had entered into some kind of antechamber deep under the surface of the ocean. Some how the pressure was keeping the water out and the air was breathable. He had gone so deep that he emerged from the sub in total darkness. The only light was coming from inside the sub itself.

As he cleared the sub, he made his way down the side step ladder on the side of the small ship and jumped the last few feet to land bluntly on the stone dock. The sound of his boots hitting the stone echoed throughout the cavernous room. He had no way to see where he was going but he slowly stumbled forward in the dark. He had hoped that there was some kind of light somewhere in this place that his eyes would gradually adjust to, but he didn't seem to be in such luck.

Squall stood there silently for a moment thinking if he should go back to the sub and find a light, maybe some flares...and then he remembered that when he left the sub he had closed the hatch and couldn't see any light from it either. If he kept walking forward he would eventually hit a wall, and if he followed the wall, then he would eventually find a door, and that would lead him somewhere.

Before he started walking, he heard something over his shoulder...almost like a faint whispering, he turned his head, as if he could see anything if he found the source, but he didn't hear it anymore and assumed it was just the sound of the water hitting the dock.

"Hello?" he yelled loudly into the darkness. His echo replied to him over and over as it bounced around in the darkness. Wherever he was...this place was huge.

"Is anyone here!" he yelled again, but this time...there was no echo. He felt a small gust of cool air go by his left side and a chill ran up his spine. All his instincts were telling him to leave, but he knew that he needed to stay. He hoped that the answers he sought were here.

Squall continued walking forward in the dark for another few seconds before he heard his own echo from earlier speaking back at him "Hello? Hello? Hello?" it called back to him. He swallowed hard and stopped dead in his tracks. He started to think this through some more. He was in a huge chamber, all alone, in the dark, no weapon, no sense of direction, and something was here. Something that surely meant to frighten him. He would never have admitted it to anyone, but he was scared.

His mind focused suddenly and he remembered why he was here. It was his mission and his alone. The fear instantly fell around his feet and he felt brave enough to take on a guardian force bare handed. "Let's just hope it doesn't come down to that" he said quietly to himself, and then turned his head upwards and yelled out "SHOW YOURSELF!" in the distance he heard what sounded like footsteps running away, but far off in the distance. Light footsteps, like a woman wearing heels. Instantly he ran after it full speed. If he could keep that sound in front of him, and if there was nothing waist high in his way, he should be able to run in the dark and not break his neck tripping over anything. He ran what seemed like seconds turned into days, but the sound of his own boots drowned out the sound of the distant footsteps and he stopped running. "There's something familiar to all this..." he said to himself. He suddenly remembered when he had buried his gunblade into the godlike abomination of Ultimecia, and he was seperated from his friends. He was in total darkness just like this. Except that felt more like a dream world...this felt real. He started walking again but there was no echo to his footsteps. He sounded like he was walking in a small room, about to hit the wall at any given moment. He put his hands far out in front of him and walked slowly, but there was nothing. He wished now that he had gone back to the sub and found that light. At least then it was only a few yards away...now he could never find his way back in this darkness.

He looked down towards his feet for a moment, and then looked back in front of him to see a glimmer far off in the distance. It looked like nothing more than a spark but it was there. then it suddenly got larger, but just barely. Then he realized that it didn't get larger but instead another light appeared in front of that one. Followed by another, and then another. Something was approaching him, he turned around and saw another light heading for him as well. The two multiplying light sources moved faster and faster until they were on top of him and he suddenly realized that they were torches, and he was standing in a long hallway that stretched out forever in both directions. He reached up on the stone wall and took one of the torches and started to walk down the brightly lit hallway. If he was going to end up in the dark again, this time he would be prepared.

Squall started running down the hallway at full speed hoping to reach the end but it just seemed to keep going on and on. He was being toyed with and he was tired of it. "I don't know where you are, but SHOW YOURSELF! I'm tired of these games!"

Again, he heard echoes come down the hallway, "Hello? Hello? Hello?" in his own voice.

He wasn't shaken this time. His eyes narrowed and in a voice that had enough determination, he said "NOW!" At first there was no answer, but then he heard faint singing. He didn't recognize the language, but it was entrancing. It had purpose. It almost sounded like Cathedral music. The harmonics were incredible in the hallway. Squall started walking towards the music and the hallway took a bend. "Finally" he thought to himself. When he came around the corner he was standing in a royal chamber that looked as though it had been neglected for thousands of years. The carpet leading from the hallway was red, but stained and dirty with age. The columns holding the magnificent chamber up were a deep azure blue swirled with white, and still polished. Giant crystals generated or focused light down into the room from the center of the ceiling like a giant chandileer. Tapestries were hung on the walls, but they were so badly ravaged by time that no images could be made out. In the center of the room sat a throne covered in crimson velvet with inlaid gold along the edges of the wood and large lion heads adorned the ends of the arm rests. In the chair sat a small girl, terribly too tiny to fit in the chair properly. Squall walked across the giant room and stopped in front of the chair and waited to be noticed by the child. She was nonchelantly combing the hair of a doll that she lovingly held in her arms.

She didn't seem to notice him in front of her, but continued to sing her song to her doll. "Ieyui Nobomenu Renmiri Yojuyogo Hasatekanae Kutamae..." She finally stopped singing and looked up from her doll.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Squall asked.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The small child mimed his words less than a split second behind him so she sounded like a mocking echo. "Hello Squall."

Squall gasped slightly when the porcelain looking child called his name. Her accent was heavy and regal, and her dress looked like she was royalty, but what was she doing down here all alone?

"Who are you?" he said again, hoping to get an actual answer this time.

The small child giggled as if she didn't have a care in the world and went back to combing the hair of her doll. She began singing her song again, but Squall interrupted..."I don't have time for any more of these games. Is there anyone else here that I can talk to?"

"There's you, and there's me. There's no one else...You're not supposed to be down here. You know that, don't you?"

"I got the impression from your little funhouse."

"It was merely a test to see what kind of man you had become...this time around."

"What? Never mind. I need to know something."

"You never change...you always ask the same question..."

"Then what am I going to ask you?"

"You want to know why I am here, and what this place is. You want to know where the Guardian Forces come from. You want to know what lies before you. You want to know why all this is happening to you, and you want to know how to stop it."

Squall looked a little irritated. "...Well?"

The child looked disappointed, but answered, "Straight to the point. Very well...I am the Ancient. Hmm...that's funny...I always expect you to remember every time I tell you, but it always surprises me when you don't...Not that you would...perhaps it's one of my own shortcomings. I am the guardian of this palace; The Temple of the Ancients. We were once a prosperous race that visited different worlds, and different realities as explorers, but a civil war broke out among our people...so many years ago that I can't recall what it was about. Many factions decided to travel to these different earths and start over. They wished to put behind them the pettiness that had nearly consumed us before."

He stood there watching the small child recount the story of what must have been a devastating moment in her races history, and noticed that she seemed upset to speak of this, but hid nearly all emotion of it.

"Where do the Guardian Forces come from?" he asked, trying to stay on topic.

She looked up at him with her icy blue eyes and began again. "Over a thousand years ago, the Sorceress Adel threatened to destroy this universe. She became obsessed with power and became so threatened by the power she couldn't control that she sought to destroy it. This, in turn, made her blood rage more powerful and she began destroying everything she could. The Ancients saw her for what she was and knew that we had to do something or we would lose our adopted home as well as that of humanity. We had secluded ourselves from humanity from the time we first arrived here on Earth, and hoped to live out our lives in peace, but the time came for us to reveal ourselves in order to stop her.

"So the Ancients are the Guardian Forces?" Squall cocked an eyebrow as he took a guess.

"No. We made the Guardian Forces. When the time came to face the Sorceress, we offered salvation, but some would have to give up their humanity in order to take it. We, too, loved this world so much that we made a sacrifice of our own. It was a beautiful union of our two races. We would enter an eternal sleep with those few who gave their lives for this world, and we would dream. Our dreams would become reality, and those who gave their lives would be reborn as the Guardians of Earth. Some lived on as a dream, some lived as nightmares, but they all fought for the salvation of this planet. Their visage became a reflection of their hearts and they were forever trapped this way as long as we slept."

"Why couldn't you wake up?" Squall asked, genuinely interested in the story now.

"To wake up would mean we would die. We had used all of our energies to enter into the sleep and we simply couldn't wake up from it. We were in a beautiful coma, and our dreams were our life support."

"What about the humans that gave their lives? Couldn't they wake up?"

"When the Guardians began to sleep, they were preserved in precious stones that reflected their hearts, and preserved their souls. Their bodies became nothing more than ornaments of the gems, To wake from their dreams...they would have nothing to awaken to. Such was their destiny, and their curse.

"Is...'he' a Guardian Force?"

"He is a sick abomination. A horrible mistake, that was never corrected...he is not human."

"What is he?"

"His name was Alistaire. He decieved us all and claimed that he wanted to give his life to save the earth, but when we dreamed of him, he did not sleep. He could not be contained. He was a demon that walked the earth in the form of a man, and used his power to destroy rather than to protect." The child looked scared at the thought of the demon.

"What happened?" Squall asked.

"We knew that he must be stopped, so we attempted to imprison him. Our attempts failed, and he came after us. Our Guardians couldn't hold him back, and he entered into these chambers and slaughtered us one by one. When their spirits left their bodies, he consumed them, rather than allowing them to pass on to the next life. He no longer had need of the Ancients. He had become something far more powerful than a common Guardian... he had become a destroyer. The remaining Ancients used their powers to send him into deep space, but he found other worlds and destroyed them, growing in strength each time he did so. He finally came back to earth and killed the remaining ancients, save one.

"You." Squall answered.

"He couldn't be destroyed, he couldn't be cast away, but he was eventually imprisoned into a chunk of steel. The prison formed into the reflection of it's heart and took on the image of a great beast striving to break free."

"So...he can't be destroyed then..." Squall sat on the floor and looked down at his knees as he attempted to figure something out.

"We don't know h...I...don't know how. I'm sorry...it has been so long, and yet I always tend to forget that I am alone."

"I'm...sorry." Squall kept his head down as his eyes began to tear up.

"...what?" The child dropped her doll and looked at Squall with wide-eyes, almost as if she were in shock. There was a tremble in her voice which was the first real show of emotion the child had displayed since Squall had arrived here.

"I said...I'm sorry." he repeated to her.

She stared at him with tears streaming down her face, still doe-eyed and in shock. She tried to form words, but couldn't get the sounds out. Squall looked up at her to see the emotion-filled expression painted on her face and his heart nearly skipped a beat. He felt like he had done something wrong and didn't know what to do. He knew that this wasn't a child, and that she could probably destroy him with a thought, but something was...wrong. "...What? What's wrong?"

"Y..." she tried to form words again, and forced herself through it. "Y...you...you've...never..." He watched her try to articulate her words repeatedly and didn't understand what was stopping her. Just a moment ago she was speaking more eloquently than even Quistis, and now she was a quivering mess.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her; his heart still beating too fast.

"You've never...said that before. 'I'm sorry.' You've never said it before...never."

He knew that he had said those words before...what was she talking about?

"This is a...new page, Squall. This...has never happened before."

"What do you mean?" he asked her, completely clueless as to what she was referring to at this point.

"I have one more story for you.


	9. Shattered Interlude

Hey everyone! This is an interlude in the story in order to showcase a different style format of the story. A while back, I collaborated with several people in order to produce a Radio Play version of the story. A few chapters were completed, as well as a couple of trailers as well. Please keep in mind that these are Audio format stories, so don't be alarmed when you try to "watch" them that there is no video to accompany it. :) These are classic style Radio Plays which haven't been consistantly produced in decades! I hope that you enjoy them!Thanks for all of your support, and I'd love to hear more feedback from you! It's your inspiration that keeps my fingers typing! 

Sincerely,  
Blue Lionheart

http / www. bluelionheart. com / ff8shattered (please input the address correctly inyour browser as this site doesn't allow proper hyperlinks.Thank you!)


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